This is one of the journeys etched in my mind forever. i made a day trip to the ancient caldera at jawa timur, the tengger caldera. This is one of the most popular sites in java indonesia. if you ever come by, this is a must- see. it was featured in national geographic a few years ago and now the amazing sites can be experienced by everyone.

The site is situated in Tengger. The caldera was once a vast mountain, an eruption of massive proportions blew off its top leaving a huge caldera (15 km wide) in which two peaks are located. One is the active volcano of Bromo and the other is the non-active of Mount Batok.

Mt. Bromo is about 2,382 meters above sea level. Time has filled the caldera with grey sand and this expanse, which you walk across en route to Bromo itself, is known as the Sand Sea

. It is about 10 km. Across the Sand Sea is Mount Batok with its almost perfect cone.

Further south a towering volcano can be seen, Mount Semeru, the highest mountain in Java provides the perfect bacdrop to this seemingly unrealistic landscape.

The 16-km-wide Tengger caldera is located at the northern end of a volcanic massif extending from Semeru volcano. The massive Tengger volcanic complex dates back to about 820,000 years ago and consists of five overlapping stratovolcanoes, each truncated by a caldera.

Going there:

Tourists are driven to the small town of Ngadisari, about six km north-east of Bromo. It is the base camp of the expedition. Necessities for the trip include a torch, warm clothing and some alcoholic drinks as a protection against the freezing temperature which hovers between zero to five degrees Celsius (33 to 41 degrees Fahrenheit). From Ngadisari, the ascent to the crater takes about two hours on foot. On horse-back (horses can be hired) the excursion takes about an hour and a half

. Excursions normally start around midnight. Ngadisari also has hotel facilities. This enables trippers to stay the night and get up somewhat later than midnight for the trek to Bromo. The last stage of the trip is the flight of steps leading to the rim of Bromo's crater, and, finally, the incomparable view of the rising in the east.

Terms: CALDERAA caldera is a collapse crater from a massive volcanic eruption which accurs after the underlying magma chamber has cooled and collapsed leaving a huge crater, in this case about 30 Km across.